The Miraculous Without Kwamis

by Storyteller Wordsmith

Seven strange magical items appear in Paris; they're like miraculous, but they have no kwamis to guide them. Who is behind their appearance? And will their new wielders fall victim to Hawk Moth's plans? (Told in summary format.)

97. Chapter 94: Marinette

Chapter 94: Marinette

It's morning in Paris, and the Sancoeur family is awake earlier than normal. Nathalie is in Hawk Moth's lair, working out a plan to succeed in her goal of claiming multiple miraculous. She has a general idea where Ivory's base is. It's possible Ivory has figured out that she knows and has moved despite the surveillance, but Nathalie has a way of confirming that—Gel Girl. And if Ivory has moved, then maybe there's some clues to her new location left behind. She's polishing the details of her plan. Have all 12 of her wielders ambush Ivory's base once Gel Girl confirms its location. Cut all communication in Paris so that the Eastern Order doesn't interfere. Then swarm and overrun Ivory, Tarantula, Draco, and Rhino before they can get reinforcements. Nathalie as Peacock Moth could reinforce her own birthstone wielders with senti monsters and akuma victims. Once she's beaten Ivory and taken the elephant miraculous, Nathalie is hoping to search Ivory's base for information on the 12 Western wielders. If she can find such information, she can use her wielders en masse and take down the Western zodiacs one by one. She'll triumph as long as she can keep Team Ladybug/the Eastern Order out of things; otherwise, it'll become an unwinnable free-for-all. Nathalie has to beat the Western Order first. Then she can use the Western miraculous and the birthstones against Ladybug's allies. The heroes are easy enough to lure out—they've already proven to be weak against hostage situations. And Nathalie would take an entire school or hospital hostage if it meant waking Gabriel Agreste.

She reviews her plans, noting flaws, considering various match-ups and how her allies' strengths and weaknesses would play out against actual miraculouses. She acknowledges that her plan isn't perfect—not yet. A good part of it relies on finding information from Ivory about the identities and/or locations of the Western Order members. But if she can't find that information…the Western Order will slip underground, and she'll never get their items. So Nathalie has to find an alternative plan—just in case Ivory keeps no records.

She's pondering this dilemma when Nicholas enters; it's clear something is on his mind. Nathalie doesn't notice as her nose is buried in her tablet. She merely asks him where he was yesterday. He was supposed to lead All-Star Rex, Gel Girl, and Swallowtail against an exhausted Ladybug and Cat Noir. Yet he wasn't there, and they escaped. Nicholas falls silent, unsure how to answer. As a senti monster, he doesn't know how to handle his growing free-will.

Nathalie patiently waits for an answer. Nicholas finally replies that he thought he saw back-up arriving for the golden duo. He pursued that, only to find out he had made a mistake. He's so ashamed of his mistake and abandoning his post that he couldn't even speak up about it. Nathalie accepts the excuse and tells him not to do it again. Nicholas nods, but he now feels massively guilty. He lied to his creator. How could he do such a thing?!

Things fall into an awkward silence between the two until Nicholas brings up… "Aunt Nathalie, you once said I and the powers of the diamond unicorn were made from your wish. What did you mean?" Nathalie then looks up from her tablet. She sees her nephew's physical appearance. It's so much like herself, but a teenage boy, with Gabriel Agreste's eyes. She created him based on how she imaged a son between her and Gabriel would like, influenced by her personality and the talents of Adrien Agreste, whom she also loves as if he were her own. Nathalie actually faintly blushes when she thinks this, though she can't explain as much to Nicholas. She states that he's everything she would want in family; that was her wish.

Nicholas then inquires about his powers as Adamantus. He didn't even know what his special ability was for the entirety of Phase Three so far. He thinks about how he helped Gilles Chastain the previous day and then Nathalie herself weeks ago. He's certain the diamond unicorn can heal people—though he doesn't know the specifics or limitations. But if that's the case…why did Aunt Nathalie mention my powers sooner? Why would she keep that a secret?

Nathalie explains that she crafted her 12 birthstone items differently than a standard akuma. With the akumas that causes incidents, she gives them precise powers and limitations, strengths and weaknesses. She has a specific target in mind when she creates them and because of that, she can even use her akumas to recreate a person's personality on the spot. She (and Gabriel Agreste previously) even created the outfits akuma victims get stuck wearing—which, come on Gabriel, you're a fashion designer. Please explain the Bubbler's outfit!

When Nathalie created the birthstone items, everything she did was different. As seen previously, she did the least amount of personality warping she could get away with, meaning her birthstone wielders are largely acting within the realm of their own free will. Had she warped their personalities any stronger or any quicker, she would have had full-on akuma victims on her hands—which not only would have made them a greater target for Ladybug and Cat Noir to purify, but also would have made them weaker. As discovered over the course of Phase Three, free will is a crucial difference.

Furthermore, she only empowered her birthstone akumas with vague concepts of a power. For example, Swallowtail has the vague power of "super speed" and Pearly White's is "using weapons well." It was Raissa Deschamps who turned "vague super speed" into "ultra sonic flight" and Vivica who turns "use weapons well" into "automatic weapons mastery of any weapon, including other people's miraculous weapons." Nathalie as Peacock Moth wanted the powers of the birthstones to grow and develop, to become strong enough to rival miraculous instead of limited to the predetermined skillset of a brainwashed akuma victim. They also are far more adaptable and versatile as Nathalie had no intended target when she created them. This is seen in the outfits of the 12 birthstone wielders; they mimic the personalities of the teenagers—they're not hammy and campy supervillain outfits designed by Hawk Moth.

Her plan is working. The birthstone wielders are growing exponentially stronger. Now, she probably could simply veer away from even making akuma victims at all and instead focus on her birthstone wielders and then a second generation thereof. However, she doesn't for two reasons. The first is to make it seem as if the original Hawk Moth is still active, cementing Gabriel Agreste's alibi as not Hawk Moth. The second is that it took a lot out of her to make and maintain 12 items…and she's not sure she has the strength to create more or the time to train and develop more wielders. It took her long enough to find 12.

Nicholas brings the conversation back to him and his powers as Adamantus specifically. Why didn't Nathalie tell him what they were? Nathalie is surprised. Nicholas had never spoken to her about any of his questions and doubts before. She would have told him if he asked—but she had assumed he already knew what the diamond unicorn was capable of. She explains that when she created the diamond cufflinks, she empowered the akuma inside with the ability of "undo" and she left it open-ended at that. It's a power that could develop into undoing a mistake or undoing an advantage the heroes have or undoing the creation of an object (such as a Lucky Charm object) or undoing a triumph of an enemy or undoing the loss of their allies or undoing a power-up/power-down (aka countering Alpha and Tigress's special abilities)…It was a power she created to be very open-ended. It was all up to Nicholas/Adamantus himself as to how he would cultivate it and what path he would take it down.

Nicholas is surprised to hear he had so much autonomy in determining the destiny of his own powers—and that it was his own subconscious that turned "undo" into "healing." He's the one who can develop the strength of the diamond unicorn. And he's the one who bring about his aunt's wish…without her having to sacrifice herself.

Nathalie notices the change in his demeanor, in how he carries himself. She's about to remark on this when the front doorbell rings. Nathalie has every intention on ignoring it, but through the security feed, Nicholas sees that it's his best friend, Gilles Chastain, at the front gate. Nicholas had every intention of visiting Gabriel and Emilie's room before school, but he knows it'd be suspicious if he ignores Gilles. Plus, it's likely that Solomon or Amelie would come looking for him to talk to Gilles, and it'd be even more suspicious if they can't find him. Nicholas excuses himself from his aunt's presence and sneaks from Hawk Moth's lair into the front hall of the Agreste manor.

Solomon the gorilla is acting as gatekeeper, not letting Gilles into the home. Gilles insists he doesn't care anything about Adrien Agreste—he's here to talk to Nicholas. They're classmates, after all. Solomon, being a professional bodyguard, refuses to let him in. Nicholas walks up behind Solomon and says it's okay; he'll walk to school with Gilles, so Solomon doesn't have to worry about letting a relative stranger near Adrien. Solomon nods; this is acceptable. Nicholas makes sure he grabs his backpack, which has Dapple inside, and heads to Francoise Dupont High School with Gilles.

Gilles waits until they're a block away from the manor before bringing up the obvious topic between them, "So…you're actually Adamantus?" Nicholas nods but says nothing. Gilles has a million questions. He wants to know why Nicholas chose to be Adamantus and why Adamantus and his crew are attacking Paris as well as heroes like Ladybug and Cat Noir. He wonders if Nicholas is in any trouble—maybe he's being coerced into villainy by someone. Plus, why didn't Nicholas tell him after all this?

Nicholas just sorta lets Gilles rant himself out. Nicholas then says the truest thing he can possibly say, "I didn't tell you because you're my friend. I didn't want you to get involved because you'd get hurt." Gilles is touched by this, but he states that Nicholas is his friend too, and he doesn't want to see Nicholas taking risks, working for the bad guys, and getting hurt himself. Nicholas insists he's not working for a bad guy even though it's true he's working against Ladybug and Cat Noir. Gilles points out that those are not mutually exclusive things. If he's working against Ladybug and Cat Noir, who protect the people of Paris from being brainwashed and crazy by Hawk Moth, then he's working for a bad guy. Nicholas insists that that's not the case—that there's things about Ladybug and Cat Noir that the public doesn't know about and that the person he works for has altruistic intentions. Gilles isn't convinced, and he insists on specific details from Nicholas. Nicholas tells his friend he can't give details. He has to protect other people's identities—and, most importantly, he really doesn't want Gilles to get involved. If Gilles starts learning things, he'll be in danger. Adamantus has enemies, after all, and the clear implication is the Western Order. Gilles doesn't have a miraculous or any magical powers to protect himself. He'd wind up becoming a victim of crossfire. Gilles points out that if Team Draco really are Adamantus's true enemies, then Nicholas/Adamantus should be teaming up with Ladybug and Cat Noir instead of going against them. Nicholas repeats that Ladybug and Cat Noir aren't the heroes Paris believes them to be.

Gilles, without solid evidence, refuses to believe that. (This shows he is far less gullible than the birthstone wielders, who were coerced into ignoring such questions.) He continues to express concern about his friend getting himself involved on the wrong side of things. Nicholas won't be swayed, however. Nicholas asks if that means Gilles won't talk to him anymore. Gilles shakes his head. He's not going to abandon a friend who needs help, and clearly Nicholas needs help if he's being a villainous vigilante. Nicholas repeats that that's not the case and insists that Gilles not get involved for his own safety. Which only further convinces Gilles that Nicholas is under duress. Nicholas asks Gilles if Gilles is going to reveal his secret identity. Gilles realizes he probably should—for Nicholas's own sake. However, the expression on Nicholas's face changes into one of sadness with some fear mixed in. Gilles sighs and says he'll hold back. Since Nicholas is in trouble, revealing too much could make it all the worse for him. But he's not going to abandon his friend. In fact, he's going to do all he can to get Nicholas out of this "life of crime." Nicholas insists it isn't that, and they again go back and forth all the way to school. (The general public doesn't yet know Adamantus is associated with Hawk Moth, otherwise Gilles would be a lot more panicked and likely would contact Ladybug and Cat Noir about things.)

Other students are also arriving at Francoise Dupont High School. Rose Lavillant and Juleka Couffaine are checking out Rose's phone, where Rose has received some new texts from Prince Ali, complete with pictures of his charity work in foreign countries. Ivan Bruel winds up hanging out with Fumikage Tokoyami and Viktor Vasiliev while he waits for Mylene Haprele to finish talking with her father or Le Chien Kim to arrive. Nicolette puts on her bravest face and walks straight by Etienne Fontaine without looking at him; she doesn't want her threads of affection to regrow. Monique Imhof notices this and compliments her on her resolve; she then helps distract her friend by taking selfies with her. Sabrina Raincomprix is chatting with Delmar, her American boyfriend, in English. He stayed up ridiculously late to be able to speak with her. Cameran Tyler, who is an American exchange student, actually compliments Sabrina in how well her English is. It's also possible that Delmar and Cameran know each other as it's likely the American school and Francoise Dupont High School have an agreement. That's why Miss Bustier's class visited during the New York special (and why so many students in the French version of the special spoke French despite it happening in NYC); it's also likely why Cameran went specifically to Francoise Dupont. Stella Tenebrae gets in trouble with Ms. Mendeleiev for racing around the hallways. Jakeel Aristide, for once, isn't pranking people or telling jokes or juggling in the halls. He's lost in thought, trying to figure out why something is nagging at the back of his memory. He tugs at the peridot collar around his neck. Kagami Tsurugi stashes her fencing equipment in her locker; this leads to a rather deep conversation with Rachel Beauchene about the different between fencing and kendo as a system for honing one's spirit. It's worth noting that Chloe is still out on her fake vacation as she's avoiding Madam Gros.

Everyone is here: (( photos . app . goo . gl / cgLSrNi71rxfep9e8 ))

Marinette Dupain-Cheng arrives and eagerly awaits for Adrien Agreste. However, there's some anxiety in her impatience as well. Does he know I'm Ladybug? And how do I even bring it up? "Hey Adrien, I know you're Cat Noir. Do you know I'm Ladybug? Ugh, disaster! Alya Cesaire notices that Marinette is stressing and asks her about it. Marinette insists she's fine in a way that convinces no one. Alya asks if it's a "Ladybug thing." Marinette admits it is and then says she can't say any more. Alya accepts, but she says that if/when Marinette does need to talk, she's always there to listen. After all, Alya is doing her best to be responsible—her signature character development trait.

That's when the Agreste limo pulls up, letting Adrien and his cousin, Felix Graham de Vanily, off at the doors. Marie Chauveau makes beeline for Felix. In doing so, she leaves her best friend, Suzette Rault, behind. Marie tries to catch Felix's interest with something on her phone. He turns on the false charisma and thanks her for her interest, but "sadly," he doesn't have the time now. He leaves her behind in a way that Marie doesn't realize she's been completely snubbed. Adrien notices Marinette right away. His face lights up in a smile; he heads over to her with a wave. Alya backs off to leave the two alone. Marinette attempts to broach the topic that's been on her mind, but her words tangle on her tongue and she winds up stammering.

Lila Rossi watches them from the shadows of the door; she gnashes her teeth together. Adrien belongs to me! She is not going to let this slide. She will ruin Marinette. She'll ruin Alya and Chloe and Kagami and everyone else who dared humiliate or insult her. A plan brews in the back of her mind as she smiles sinisterly. I know exactly how to break them apart. She touches the Gemini necklace.

The school day is fairly normal. Heck, they actually get through a school day without classes being canceled because of an akuma attack. That doesn't mean everything is perfect. There's still an undercurrent of tension in the school that wasn't there at the start of Phase Three. Meera Pugliese and Raissa Deschamps aren't talking to Giselle Winters-Blanchet even though they have every reason to believe she discarded her mother's bracelet. Giselle can't openly wear her miraculous, and she has to ensure Chill the snow leopard kwami stays hidden—even from those she once called friends.

Cameran Tyler is still processing the new knowledge that he's been All-Star Rex all along. He is still processing the nightmare/memory he had in relation to and trying to determine how much of his own vigilantism was his own doing and how much of it was something akin to sleep walking or worse. He actually feels anxious as he fears it was the latter—he fears he doesn't have full control over himself. And he's right. But he doesn't know how to handle this because he, like Jean Duparc, keeps trying to take off his enchanted item only to have it return to him. He attempts to practice in the bathroom a bit, to see if he can intentionally transform, as he wants to remain in control while empowered. He has yet to successfully transform himself.

Monique Imhof/Zephyria the Witch mentions, indirectly and without naming names, her encounter with June/her best friend Nicolette Lacroix to her boyfriend, Mathieu Anciel/Ramson. She mentions that "one of the Western Order" was (possibly) threatened by Ivory and that certain members are worried. They want to talk. Mathieu agrees that it is disconcerting to think that Ivory might use her powers against them; he agrees to the meeting with other dissatisfied members. His little brother, Marc Anciel, approaches at that moment to ask him something harmless. Mathieu, out of concern his brother heard and out of concern for his brother getting involved, gets uncharacteristically snappish with him, calls him annoying, and tells him to scram. Marc is not the best at standing up for himself at all; he's clearly hurt and just falls silent. Monique quickly escorts Mathieu away, telling him that was too harsh when Marc is out of earshot. Mathieu said he did what he had to do to protect his little brother.

Tristan Fortier ponders what happened to him, as far as he can remember, concerning when Blue Ox attacked him during Labyrinth and Rhino (actually Ursa) defended him. His memories are still out of sorts due to Ivory, but he doesn't realize this. He does realize he should talk to Ladybug that one of her allies went rogue, but he doesn't know how to reach Ladybug. He heads off to boxing practice. Mireille Caquet actually gets uncharacteristically sarcastic with one of her boyfriend's friends. Theo Barbot, said boyfriend, notices this and calls her out on it, causing her to get sarcastic with him instead. Meera Pugliese gets into an argument with Max Kante about the science (and lack thereof) of aliens. Markov gets lost in the debate. Jean Duparc notices Rose Lavillant, his crush, walking by and tries to call out to her, but he starts stammering really badly. He wonders if he'll ever be able to confess to her. And Alix Kubdel just watches and listens as everything unfolds. She hates how so many friends and family members are at each other's throats, but she knows she has to let things go to lead to the best future.

Marinette catches up to Adrien as he leaves for the day to head to a modeling job. She insists that they have to talk. Adrien is thrilled for the chance to talk to his girlfriend. In fact, he offers Marinette to come to the photoshoot with him. She likes fashion; it'll be perfect. Marinette is immensely flattered. She calls her parents, who give her permission. Adrien talks to Solomon, getting him to let Marinette into the limo. They head off, Marinette attempting to steel her nerves and talk. She realizes she might just have to plow through her stuttering with all her strength like she did when she finally confessed to him.

Lila Rossi sees them enter the limo, and she is not going to let this happen. She finds a quick place to hide and transforms into Mink. Just before the golden heroes are out of sight, she captures their reflections in her mirror. "Duality!" She separates Marinette and Adrien's light and dark sides, leaving their dark sides alone in the limo and setting the light sides down in the school, separate. Let's see how much they "love" each other when they're at their worst. Mink changes back into Lila, feeds Lapinna the cabbit kwami, and strolls back into the school to see if she can benefit further from the chaos seeds she just planted.

Meanwhile, Nathalie is still making her plan. She knows she needs to make a move quickly and finalize the final stages before Ivory gets the upper hand. She knows at the least she doesn't need to worry about Team Ladybug because they tend to be more reactive than proactive. But she can sense she and Ivory have been testing the waters—which means Ivory is likely to make a huge play soon. And Nathalie had either be ready or strike first; otherwise, she's going to lose Paris. Fortunately for her, she still has her network of spyders (many of which are watching the apartment she suspects Ivory works from). She also has a whole databank on Ivory's allies. She already knows they won't give into hostages (unlike Ladybug)—and she knows the general idea of their HQ, assuming they haven't moved. It's time to strike there.

With Amelie distracted running her family's film company remotely, Dr. Theroux tending to the unconscious Emilie and Gabriel, and Solomon waiting near the school for Adrien, Nathalie is able to slip into Hawk Moth's lair without being noticed. She transforms into Peacock Moth and stretches out her senses, searching for emotional discord within the vicinity where Gel Girl sensed Draco's family's apartment.

She finds it in a place she wasn't expecting—a local animal pound. Peacock Moth frowns. Gabriel Agreste as Hawk Moth hated working with animals and small children. If he had the choice, he'd never akumatize an animal or infant—though baby August did push his hand. Nathalie herself has akumatized a cat before. Peacock Moth ponders her options. The emotions are ripe. And if she acts…this could further cement Gabriel's (false) innocence. She decides to go through with it and then plots out the details how.

In this case, it'd be ideal to send multiple akumas. But she can only do that if she has someone aid her by powering her up—akin to how she, as Catalyst, powered up Gabriel Agreste as Hawk Moth. That's one of the reasons why she created Nicholas—so she would have someone to akumatized who could power her up in turn. But she can't bring herself to akumatize him. Undertaker took its toll on her heart. So Nathalie considers another method to akumatize multiple targets within the local animal pound. She has the power of two miraculous and was actually able to "go scarlet" all on her own during the events of Crimson without another person powering her up. However, "going scarlet" only allows her to re-akumatize past victims. For this plan, she wants to start fresh. So after deliberation, she decides to akumatize the building of the pound itself once she discovers how many lingering negative emotions hover over the place.

Back at Francoise Dupont High School, light side Marinette suddenly finds herself inside the building, alone, with no idea where Adrien is. She mildly panics and sets off at a jog to find him. However, this aspect of Marinette keeps getting distracted along the way. Being her light side, she represents the most noble and selfless aspects of Ladybug and Marinette. So every time light side Marinette sees a friend, classmate, teacher, or stranger in need of help, she, well, stops to help.

Light side Adrien is on the first floor of the school. He looks lost and a bit dazed. Unlike light side Marinette, light side Adrien actually goes out of his way to avoid people. He lacks his usual confidence and is largely staring at his feet. Also unlike Marinette, who winds up seeking people to help, any time Adrien is asked to help someone, he goes along with it. In short, his light side emphasizes his "must please people" persona to the point that he's a total doormat. Lila Rossi is watching from around the corner. It doesn't take long for her to especially put two and two together; she smiles darkly.

In the Agreste limo, dark side Adrien and Marinette are alone (with Solomon driving, but the window between the front and back is closed). Dark side Adrien wastes no time in putting the moves on Marinette. He's the one with all the confidence and more. And the way he talks is a little bit creepy and a lot possessive. When dark side Marinette refuses his attempts to get physical simply because it's so sudden and out of character, dark side Adrien shows some temper and blatantly says "you're my girlfriend," wondering why she'd refuse his advances. Dark side Marinette stammers and admits the guy she loves is the noble, kind, thoughtful, personable, selfless Adrien—the kind of Adrien who would never be pushy. This is true regardless of light side or dark side Marinette—all of her loves him, and all of her loves his kindness. Dark side Adrien is surprised enough by dark side Marinette's declaration of love that he lays off. He then remarks that she was able to say that without stammering. Dark side Marinette is surprised, but she admits it's true. She then tries again. "I love you." No stammering. Both smile. It's light side Marinette who inherited the tongue twisting.

Solomon drives them to the park where the locks of love fence was built. The photoshoot is half-set up; they arrived early. He lets them out but follows at a distance, doing his job. Since dark side Adrien is overconfident, he's able to grab dark side Marinette's hand to hold. She turns bright red at this, but this form of physical affection she doesn't refuse. However, she stops short, clutching her head with her free hand. She's getting flashes of memories of her light side at Francoise Dupont High School. Dark side Adrien is concerned—after all, all sides of him love Marinette/Ladybug. He insists he'll attack whatever or whoever is hurting her. Dark side Marinette calls it "just a headache," but she wonders why she'd have weird memories of school at a time like this. They walk hand in hand towards the photographer.

Back at Francoise Dupont High School, Lila Rossi approaches light side, doormat Adrien Agreste. She loops her arm around his, and he doesn't resist. She then begins flirting, playing up her public-but-fake nice girl persona to appeal to his better and gentler nature. She insists she's no longer the liar she once was, that she wants to do good and help people. Adrien understands, right? They're friends, right? Adrien nods, saying yes, and in general not "rocking the boat." Seeing that light side Adrien isn't going to resist, Lila leans in closer to him and starts discussing feelings. "You don't hate me, right? Do you like me? How much do you care about me?" She basically worms her way into making light side Adrien uncomfortable enough that he'll say anything, and this comes across as a love confession—just in time for light side Marinette to come around the corner and hear it.

Meanwhile, Nicholas Sancoeur has just arrived back at the Agreste manor. With most of the household being out or busy, he believes he finally has the time to test his powers and see if he can grant his aunt's greatest desire. He heads up to Gabriel and Emilie's room—only to be contacted telepathically by Peacock Moth just outside their door. She sent off an akuma, and it's just about showtime. She needs Adamantus at the scene of the upcoming attack. Nicholas obeys and leaves, transforming himself into Adamantus on the roof of the manor before leaping from rooftop to rooftop to the designated location.

At the park where the locks of love fence is, dark side Adrien and dark side Marinette run into Wayhem. This being Wayhem, he of course knew Adrien would have a nearby photoshoot and wanted to be present for it. They strike up a conversation, and dark side Marinette reveals her jealous and stalkerish side. She first tries to pull dark side Adrien away, but Wayhem follows. She then winds up passive-aggressively picking at Wayhem with "who knows Adrien better?" where she starts with "do you know his favorite color" all the way to her revealing she has his schedule for the next three years memorized. Wayhem is able to match her in Adrien trivia. Dark side Adrien initially tries to interrupt, but he falls silent when he gets a bit creeped out over how obsessive dark side Marinette is being. Wayhem is actually exasperating things unintentionally as the emerald brooch, which turns him into Golden Scarabug, is actually bringing out his own darker tendencies.

Parallel to this, Peacock Moth has used the building of the animal shelter as a catalyst to secondarily akumatize every dog in the local pound. They all break free pretty quickly and start creating havoc around the nearby neighborhood. They scatter over a wide area, as Peacock Moth intended, so as not to attract too much intention to the specific area she's watching. She also has several spyders on standby.

Some dogs have been granted abnormally huge height while others can dig through anything. Some can breathe fire while others are more akin to vicious hellhounds. Some are super speedy and others bounce around as if they're made of rubber. Not a single one is discreet, so Akuma Alerts begin pouring in almost immediately. That's when Adamantus arrives, watching from the shadows.

Back at Francoise Dupont High School, light side Marinette has just come around the corner to see Lila Rossi hanging on light side Adrien, with it seeming like Adrien is expressing feelings for her as this side of himself is a doormat who can't say "no." Light side Marinette approaches politely, unlike whole Marinette who would have completely stalked over, stamping her feet. She acts friendly as she tries to find out what's going on. Lila blatantly says that she and Adrien are confessing their feelings for each other, while intertwining her fingers with his. "Isn't that right, Adrien?" Light side Adrien, being a doormat, replies with a mumbled, "Uh…yes?"

Of course, light side Marinette is jealous and stunned as she knows this can't be true, but she handles it much better than dark side Marinette or even whole Marinette. She attempts to ask him about his feelings for her (and Ladybug), but she gets all tongue twisted (again), to Lila's amusement. So Marinette attempts a different approach, asking what Adrien likes about Lila. Adrien can't answer that, which puts the brakes on Lila's scheme. She attempts to coax out of Adrien's lips her (falsely) positive traits, but with light side Marinette staring right at him, light side Adrien's doormat nature flares really badly and he all but falls silent. When Lila pries enough to get Adrien to talk again, he flat out refers to her as merely a friend. Lila's anger is palatable.

That's when all three cell phones go off with an Akuma Alert. Light side Marinette realizes both she and Adrien are needed. However, as she watches, light side Adrien makes no attempt to get away from Lila's grip. Light side Marinette sorta hints that maybe he should go, "shouldn't you get to safety? Don't you have somewhere to be?" Light side Adrien, ever the doormat, just stares at his feet. This makes light side Marinette all the more stressed as she knows she has to go to save Paris.

Lila notices that something is going on although she doesn't know what. So she continues to play both sides, fully taking advantage that light side Adrien is not in a state to refuse (which REALLY brings up some questions about her views on consent). She tells Adrien she knows a super secure location, but "it's only big enough for two people." She starts to tug him away from Marinette, and Marinette steps in to argue back.

However, their phones BUZZ alerts again, and the evacuation PA announcement orders them all to safety. Light side Marinette stresses a whole lot, but at the end of the day, she is Marinette's light side. The pain is obvious on her face as she runs off to fulfill her duties as Ladybug while leaving Adrien behind with Lila.

During this, both dark side Marinette and Adrien also get the Akuma Alert at the locks of love park where Adrien is supposed to have a photoshoot. Dark side Adrien gets a rather devilish smile as he's happy because this means fighting alongside Ladybug; he looks right at Marinette. Wayhem is obviously worried and wants to make sure Adrien will be safe during this akuma attack, and Solomon the gorilla hustles over to protect his charge. Dark side Adrien realizes he can't do anything with either of them around, so he races off under the claim of "I got to change for my photoshoot, bye!" Dark side Marinette is relieved by this as not only does it mean that she'll have Cat Noir to help her soon but also it means Adrien is getting away from Wayhem. She takes this time to run off and find a place to transform herself.

What she doesn't realizes is that dark side Adrien is watching. Once he got around a blind corner, he peeked out just to see what Marinette would do to see if his suspicions would be confirmed. And he watches as she runs off to some place private—but some place that is obviously not a secure location in the event of an akuma attack. He smiles. Marinette is Ladybug. He keeps watching, just to see what'll happen and if Ladybug appears. However, Plagg pops out and tells him to get his head out of the clouds. Dark side Adrien gives the kwami one heck of a glare, but he transforms anyway.

At this time, light side Marinette has found an alcove in Francoise Dupont High School to hide. She comments to Tikki about how strange Adrien is acting before transforming.

Also, dark side Marinette declares "Tikki, Spots On!" Only for absolutely nothing to happen. She's confused. She looks around. Tikki is gone.

Meanwhile, light side Adrien is sweating as Lila coerces alone time with him. He tries to feel around for Plagg—he knows he has responsibilities. But he can't find his kwami.

You see, it's been mentioned before that kwamis are immune to Duality. So when Mink used her special ability to split Marinette and Adrien, their kwamis had to go with one or the other. It was completely unintentional on Mink's part, but light side Marinette wound up with Tikki and dark side Adrien wound up with Plagg. Dark side Marinette and light side Adrien have no kwamis and thus can't transform. This leaves them both very confused and suspicious.

Dark side Cat Noir, being the closest to the akuma incident, arrives first. He surveys the streets below as empowered dogs run amok, but his attention is really on the rooftops, looking for Ladybug. He faces towards the park where he last saw Marinette, waiting for her to arrive as Ladybug, so they can flirt and fight together (in his mind). He's completely taken by surprise when Ladybug lands behind him. She wasn't supposed to come in that direction! Ladybug, being the light side of Marinette, asks what Cat Noir has learned, but most of his answers twist into flirting with her, which irritates Ladybug. She also wonders how on Earth he got there faster than she did because, when she last checked, Lila still had a grip on Adrien. Regardless, Ladybug is relieved that Cat Noir is away from her even though she is majorly put off by his apparent mood swings, "WHAT has gotten into you today?!"

Cat Noir continues to try to hit on her, and Ladybug shoves him off. He makes some very possessive comments, which Ladybug had to ignore to deal with the issue at hand. She notices the empowered dogs below and realizes that they're going to need help due to the numbers. She tells Cat Noir to call for backup. At the very least, they're going to need Blue Ox. She also suggests maybe Rena Rouge and Carapace, but she leaves the choice of the rest of their allies to him. Dark side Cat Noir frowns but falls back a little bit to make the call through his cell phone/baton.

He completely fakes making the call. There's no way I'm sharing my Ladybug with anyone! Being Adrien's possessive dark side, he'd rather them go in without backup than have another superhero close to "milady." Light side Ladybug doesn't catch the fact that dark side Cat Noir lied when he said "help is coming soon." She dives into the fray, and he follows.

This allows them to be caught on camera by Nadja Chamack as well as several civilian who lack survival instincts and who instead decided to live stream rather than flee. It gets reported pretty quickly that both Ladybug and Cat Noir are on the scene. Dark side Marinette gets this through her cell phone and completely freaks out. She knows that that can't be Ladybug—she's Ladybug! And now, with Tikki missing… This is very bad. It's obviously a trap from Hawk Moth to try to isolate Cat Noir and capture him. There's no way she can let that happen! Cat Noir is Adrien, the guy she loves. Dark side Marinette takes off at a run towards the scene of the akuma incident. This is too slow, so along the way she steals some innocent civilian's bicycle; she is Marinette's dark side, after all.

Meanwhile, Ladybug and Cat Noir are in the midst of renegade dogs, trying to figure out what is empowering them. They're facing dogs, after all, and it's not as if dogs have many accessories. The heroic duo pull a couple of collars free, but they find no akumas or amoks. Light side Ladybug tells Cat Noir that they'll have to reconsider their strategy; she asks if their allies will be there soon. Dark side Cat Noir lies and insists that they're on their way.

The conversation is cut short when a dog gifted with fire breath uses flamethrower in their direction. Dark side Cat Noir lunges to the right while light side Ladybug dodges to the left. This brings Ladybug right in front of a small toy dog. She just about cooes over how cute it is when the dog grows to an enormous height—large enough to swallow her whole. Dark side Cat Noir, despite being the worst tendencies of Adrien Agreste, isn't about to let this happen. He elongates and swings his baton, catching the second dog in the jaw. However, this leaves him open for attack, and he's bitten in the side by a canine with steel teeth. Luckily, his suit protects him from too much harm, but he still cries out in anguish. Ladybug recovers and attempts to race to his side, but she's cut off by a super speedy beagle. This pushes her back into a corner, and Ladybug decides to use her Lucky Charm. However, as she goes to throw her yo-yo upward, a flying cocker spaniel thinks that it's a new game of fetch and bites down on her weapon, preventing her from using her special ability.

As the battle draws into a stalemate, dark side Marinette Dupain-Cheng arrives onto the scene, discarding the stolen bicycle and making it through the debris on foot. She lacks the heroic heart whole Marinette has—as well as her better sense of logic and planning. Dark side Marinette reacts recklessly and starts picking up bricks and throwing them at light side Ladybug. All the while, she shouts things like "Imposter!" and "You're not the real Ladybug!" Which would be a death sentence in any other situation, but only Lila Rossi knows what's going on with Marinette and Adrien, and she's too busy trying to flirt with light side Adrien to pay attention to the battle. Which actually winds up working, indirectly, in Marinette and Adrien's favor as it cements their alibis to the general populace.

Light side Ladybug notices dark side Marinette first when a rock bounces off of her ladybug suit. When she realizes it was thrown by Marinette, she's stunned and instantly thinks it's a trap. She winds up believing that dark side Marinette is the impostor—either some type of senti monster or illusion or akuma. She briefly wonders if this means her identity has been compromised, but the action of the moment keeps her from pondering it. Her instincts are that this is an amok or akuma, so she adds purifying dark side Marinette to her "things to deal with during this crisis" mental check list. Ironically, dark side Marinette is thinking the same thing about purifying light side Ladybug.

This all happens very quickly, and within seconds, dark side Cat Noir notices that dark side Marinette is also present. He can see both Ladybug and Marinette at the same time. Does this mean I was wrong?! Marinette isn't Ladybug?! That thought rips through his heart like a knife. He's surprised himself by how much it hurts—by how much he wanted Marinette to be Ladybug.

It cuts so deeply that even light side Adrien, who is still stuck in Lila's grasp at Francoise Dupont High School, feels it. He clutches his head as if he has a headache as memories from his dark side leaks over. He, too, can see Marinette and Ladybug together. Adrien wonders why he's having such visions, and a deep part of his heart wants to shake them off as false. However, he can feel his own heart rip in two from his dark side observing the same thing. He knows that this vision is no trick.

Light side Adrien pulls away from Lila, much to her consternation. She again tries to take advantage of his doormat-ness, but he doesn't pay her any attention. It's all he can do to hold back tears. I was so certain Marinette was Ladybug…I…I wanted so badly for her to be Ladybug. These past few days together were so happy…I…I'm in love with Marinette. He repeats it aloud, "I'm in love with Marinette." Lila boils, insisting it's not true. Adrien is just saying that to not hurt Marinette's feelings. After all, Adrien did just admit he cares about Lila, right?

Adrien turns and looks her dead in the eyes. "No. I mean it. I love Marinette. Good-bye, Lila." He runs out of the school. He has to find Plagg. He has get to the akuma incident. Marinette or Ladybug, whichever girl it is—she needs him. He loves her.

Of course, running across Paris on foot means he won't get there on time. Luckily, he runs into Nino Lahiffe. Nino is surprised to see Adrien there as Cat Noir is at the scene of the incident. Adrien quickly explains it's a trap for Ladybug and that his kwami is missing; he needs Nino's help. Nino tells him "say no more, bro," and loans Adrien his bicycle. Adrien thanks him. Before he pedals off, Nino asks if there's anything else he can do. Adrien tells him to contact backup, and he names off the same allies light side Ladybug had earlier requested. Nino agrees and logs into his phone while Adrien races to the girl he loves.

Back at the fight against the mass akumatized dogs, Ladybug realizes that while they're busy with some of the canines, others are escaping to elsewhere in the city—plus, they're no further at discovering what the akumatized item is than when they started. It's also been a while, and there's no signs of backup. Light side Ladybug again asks dark side Cat Noir about the reinforcements he called in, but he brushes her off in a way that leaves her suspicious. Ladybug throws off a large mastiff and gets into his face—where are their allies. Dark side Cat Noir reveals his possessive streak, bluntly saying he didn't call any in. They can handle the situation alone. He isn't sharing Ladybug with anyone. She's his. Ladybug shoves him off of her, demanding to know what's gotten into him, and insisting the kind of guy she'd fall in love with is caring not controlling. Light side Adrien actually winds up seeing the last bit through dark side Cat Noir's memories and is spurred all the further to get to the scene.

Of course, dark side Marinette isn't just letting things slide. As the fighting shifts, she stays right in the thick of it, insisting that Ladybug is an impostor and that Cat Noir is in danger—this is all a trap. She winds up getting careless, and one of the dogs targets her instead. This gets a reaction out of both dark side Cat Noir and light side Ladybug. In the latter's case, she's too heroic to watch someone get mauled—even if she has all reason to believe that person is an enemy. In Cat Noir's case, even though he is Adrien's dark side, it's because he loves Marinette and Ladybug, and he hasn't fully processed his feelings about them (seemingly) to be two different people. They both race in to help dark side Marinette, but due to the empowered dogs, it looks as if they won't reach her in time.

It's light side Adrien who swoops in on Nino's bicycle and saves dark side Marinette. Everyone is initially relieved, but dark side Cat Noir is dumbfounded at seeing Adrien Agreste. His immediate reaction is that it's some type of trick or trap. Ladybug is also very unnerved. She whispers, "have we been compromised?" Cat Noir whips his head in her direction, uncertain if he heard her correctly or not.

Meanwhile, Peacock Moth is watching as events unfold. Ladybug and Cat Noir are providing a wonderful distraction, and she's watching through her spyders for any movement from the Western Order. Adamantus is also in place, just outside the range of some of the Western Order's wards. However, there's one thing Peacock Moth can't figure out—why is there a random civilian girl insisting that Ladybug is an impostor? It's certainly not any aspect of her plot. Is it a trick from the Eastern or Western Orders? What could they possibly gain by calling Ladybug an impostor? Or, if it's the truth…then why? Why would the Western Order create a fake Ladybug to fight the akumatized dogs? Or—even harder to comprehend—why would the Eastern Order do so? To trick the Western Order? Peacock Moth tells Adamantus to watch things while she sends in some back-up to both help against the location of the Western Order as well as again Ladybug, impostor or not.

However, some of her plan comes to a screeching halt when light side Adrien Agreste pedals onto the scene. There is no way whatsoever that Peacock Moth is going to allow the son of Gabriel Agreste to get hurt—not when she also cares about him as if her were her own too. She immediately orders all the akumatized dogs to give Adrien (and by extension, Marinette, since they're on the same bike) a wide berth. Light side Ladybug notices the akumatized dogs moving away from civilian Adrien, which sends off all kinds of red flags in her head. She insists to dark side Cat Noir that this is definitely some kind of trap. They need to fall back, then they need to call for proper backup. Cat Noir acts rather dismissive about the latter, but Ladybug puts her foot down. She won't have it any other way. Dark side Cat Noir sighs and agrees to go with it. Both fall back.

Meanwhile, light side Adrien asks if dark side Marinette is okay. She says she is; then she blurts out about "how can you be here?!" Adrien says he was worried, and when he saw the live stream…he stops talking as he realizes he's getting dangerously close to revealing his own secret identity. Dark side Marinette picks up in the silence, but then she realizes she can't continue talking without revealing her own identity. Awkward silence abounds. That's when they both get flashes about what their other halves are doing. They wind up holding their heads as if getting headaches at the same time. They make eye contact, awkward and confused, wondering what is going on. It's dark side Marinette who reacts first. She now knows where light side Ladybug is because of the visions of memories, and she isn't about the let "that impostor" get away. She stalks off. Light side Adrien, lacking confidence himself, follows her.

By this point, those Nino/Carapace called in to help have arrived. However, the dogs have scattered, meaning the allies don't immediately come alongside the golden duo. Blue Ox winds up taking on the small toy dog that can grow to enormous heights while Rena Rouge drives them back with her flute and Carapace protects her with his shield as she does so. The other one to arrive, chosen by Adrien, is Pigella. She uses her tambourine to try to calm the dogs down and has moderate success in doing so.

The Eastern Order isn't the only one to have allies arrive. Peacock Moth's chosen birthstone wielders have also began to arrive. Peacock Moth used her psychic link to connect them telepathically with Adamantus. That's how they knew to head in and where to go to. Ruddiger is the first into position as all Peacock Moth had to do was subvert his free will—she figured his ability of Steal would be very useful in getting things out of Ivory's HQ without actually having to go into it and triggering wards and traps. Gel Girl is another as her astral projection is useful for getting inside places and spying. Peacock Moth topped off her team with Selkie-shi, for similar reasons.

Adamantus remains at the farthest distance due to the wards; a single mishap could literally un-create him. He directs Gel Girl to see if she can find the same apartment she did in the past. Gel Girl complies and uses her astral projection, leaving her physical body behind for him to protect. Adamantus orders Ruddiger and Selkie-shi to fan out and wait for further directions. They both comply. Ruddiger does so immediately, but then he hesitates. It as if his own subconscious is stirring. Adamantus stares at him, and Ruddiger slips back into being a puppet.

Light side Ladybug and dark side Cat Noir have withdrawn into a garage/warehouse/loading dock of a building with dark side Marinette and light side Adrien pursuing them due to their shared memories. Both are sneaking glances at each other, wondering who is real. For light side Adrien, he's wondering if Marinette is the impostor, Ladybug is, or if both are real and he was wrong about her all the time—the latter truly hurts his heart. For dark side Marinette, she's wondering if Adrien beside her is real or if Cat Noir ahead is. She experienced first hand how possessive dark side Adrien was, so she suspects he's the impostor. But having lost track of him at one point, she doesn't know if that impostor is Adrien or Cat Noir—but she's suspecting it's the boy next to her as she thinks dark side and light side Adrien switched places at one point, and she does get a bit waspish with him as a result.

With the transformed heroes, Ladybug and Cat Noir are having an argument. Cat Noir demands to know why Ladybug pulled him back when he's certain they could have handled things without back-up. Ladybug again demands to know what's gotten into him. His possessive nature is convincing her that he's an impostor, and she's just about to take up arms against him.

That's when Adrien and Marinette enter the warehouse/garage and see them together. The tension is palatable as Adrien stares at Cat Noir who stares at Marinette who stares at Ladybug who stares at Adrien. It's the reckless dark side Cat Noir who responds first, lunging at Adrien with his baton used as a sword, decrying Adrien as an impostor. Light side Ladybug reacts out of instinct to protect the boy she loves, and she uses her yo-yo to tie up Cat Noir. She declares him to be an impostor because there is no way Cat Noir would attack an innocent civilian. Cat Noir struggles and argues that there is no way Adrien is innocent while timid light side Adrien looks as if he's having second thoughts and is about to flee the scene at any moment. Dark side Marinette is momentarily paralyzed as she sees and feels "herself" fighting Cat Noir, whom she knows to be Adrien while Adrien is beside her. She is also on the reckless side, and since she's convinced she's the real one and that Ladybug is the impostor, she charges Ladybug unarmed. That's enough to spark light side Adrien into action, and he grabs her to hold her back—he can't bear to see light side Ladybug attacked, even though it further hurts his heart to turn on his good friend whom he also just realized he has romantic feelings for.

Meanwhile, Carapace, Blue Ox, Rena Rouge, and Pigella are wondering where the heck the heroes ran off to while they're dealing with the akumatized dogs.

Of course, all of this is not escaping notice of the Eastern Order. Madam Gros is still at Francoise Dupont High School, finishing paperwork. She too gets the akuma alert and realizes that events are unfolding dangerously close to the apartment she shares with the Therouxes. She is well aware that Hawk Moth has been testing the waters, trying to find out where she is and what she'll do. And she's certain that this is yet another step in Hawk Moth and Mayura's plans. Knowing that, Madam Gros knows she has to be careful not to play into Hawk Moth's hands. And Hawk Moth is surprising her—she never expected someone so brash to be such a great strategist. If she rallies her forces to intervene in the akumatized pound, she'll reveal that that part of Paris is important to her. However, it's too risky to let things go unattended just in case Hawk Moth does unearth their primary apartment, especially as she can't easily relocate Master Fu. Hmmm…well, it wouldn't be all that unusual for Ivory to intervene just to keep Hawk Moth from getting the black cat and ladybug miraculous. Madam Gros does realize that it's only the three-way stalemate that has kept power balanced so far. However, that'll all change once she launches her Paris-wide spell. Then, her Order will be more than capable of taking down Hawk Moth, the B Team, and the A Team in one strike!

But for now… Madam Gros sends a text to Brynne and Zenon, ordering them not to leave the apartment. She's sure they're being watched. Instead, she orders Odette onto the scene to ensure the stalemate continues just a little bit longer. She can't trust this mission to her teenage wielders, and since Odette comes from a different direction entirely, it will throw Hawk Moth off the trail if only a little. Odette agrees—but she adds a stipulation. She wants her son, Pride, to join her. Madam Gros gives permission. Within a few minutes, Amelie Graham de Vanily relays this to Felix. He's frosty on the issue, but he doesn't object too much. Odette and Pride leave the Agreste apartments.

Within these same array of minutes as it's an incredibly compressed time frame, Gel Girl in her astral form is able to sense the wards around the Theroux apartment. It's hard to make logical sense of the location as everything in the dream plane is rather surreal, but she recognizes the surreal elements from before. She flies back to her body, doing her best to recall the direction, and informs Adamantus. Adamantus telepathically relays this to Ruddiger, ordering him as close as he needs to be to Steal. If Ruddiger can rip out the wards, they can attack. Ruddiger moves within the limits of his special ability and attempts Steal only for the wards to block it. Adamantus then tries to have Selkie-shi enter with her Shore Surf, but she is equally repelled. Peacock Moth isn't happy that the Western Order has spells strong enough to block the abilities of her specially made akumatized items, but she's thrilled because now she has pinpointed their hideout. She stretches her senses out to that area as much as she can, using her own wielders as guideposts. As in, she's marking their locations, which she knows as she made their items, in order to mark other locations en route to the Western Order's HQ. In doing so, she can sense something familiar—something that resonates with the peacock brooch, as she has an affinity for it. She can sense Hypnos lying dormant inside.

And inside the apartment, Brynne and Zenon are not happy about having to remain put when there are rabid akumatized dogs below. Master Fu is in the next room over, still mediating. But now, he's struggling physically. Ivory has hit him with Oblivion several times, and it's taking its toll on him.

Brynne and Zenon do notice as the wards alert them to spiritual presences nearby. They're about to suit-up regardless of orders, but Adamantus is playing things carefully. He has Ruddiger and Selkie-shi withdraw away before Brynne and Zenon get overtly suspicious.

Back with Ladybug, Cat Noir, Marinette, and Adrien, it's light side Adrien who inherited the more strategic aspects of whole Adrien. And as he's holding back dark side Marinette, who is spewing that Ladybug is an impostor, he begins to wonder—why would Marinette call Ladybug an impostor? If Marinette is an uninvolved, innocent civilian, then she would have no way whatsoever of knowing if the Ladybug in front of her is the real Ladybug or a senti monster. If Marinette is involved somehow, such as being a wielder of a different miraculous or a member of the B Team or even a secret keeper, she would have to know more about Ladybug personally. Of course, there's also the chance that this Marinette is fake and that that Ladybug is the real one, and that this Marinette is part of a larger ploy to harm Ladybug. In which case…this Marinette is fake, so it is still possible that the real Marinette is Ladybug right now. It's also possible that this Marinette is real and she can so boldly declare that Ladybug as fake because—she knows it to be true as she is Ladybug herself. The emotional pain Adrien had been feeling begins to subside, just a bit. Maybe…just maybe…milady really is Marinette. And that thin hope makes him feel so ridiculously happy even though there is fear that he's setting himself up for disappointment down the line.

And his hope and joy can be felt by dark side Cat Noir, who is still trying to attack him. Cat Noir slacks in light side Ladybug's yo-yo. Though he can't clutch his head with his hands tied, it's clear he's feeling something. He looks at Adrien, and he can tell by light side Adrien's expression where the foreign emotions he's feeling are coming from. He demands to know why. What's the connection between them? How can Adrien be making him feel things? This confuses both Marinette and Ladybug temporarily—namely because they have a general idea what dark side Cat Noir is raving about—they can feel each other as well.

Light side Ladybug, who is most likely the most heroic present, suggests that they all stop trying to punch each other and talk about what's going on between them. She hints but doesn't out-right say that she's afraid that their identities have been compromised and that something or someone far worse than their own doppelgangers is about to attack. In a more direct fashion, she claims it's because it's not safe to fight with innocent, unrelated civilians around—obviously referring to Marinette and Adrien in a vain attempt to protect her and Cat Noir's identities. Unfortunately, both dark side Cat Noir and dark side Marinette are too reckless for this. They continue to fight and struggle.

Fed-up with trying to get everyone to understand each other on top of hearing the fight continue outside with Pigella, Blue Ox, Carapace, and Rena Rouge, light side Ladybug activates her Lucky Charm. And she gets a bomb that has three seconds left on its timer. It's just enough time for everyone present to see it and panic before it detonates, imploding the room around them.

Outside, those present of the Eastern Order hear the explosion but don't know what to make of it. Blue Ox has dealt with the overgrown chihuahua and sent it hiding with its tail between its legs. He now has two dogs hanging off of his arms by their teeth as they try to drag him down. Rena Rouge insists that he doesn't hurt them; they're innocent animals after all. She casts a Mirage so that the dogs all see a comfortable bed, a steak on a plate, a lovely fireplace, and a loving home. Many fall for it and calm down, getting comfortable. Blue Ox argues that it's easier said than done to not hurt large canines with steel teeth who are bent on attacking. Carapace leaps to his defense. He gets close to Blue Ox and then activates Shelter Shock, pushing the akumatized dogs away. However, they're still vicious and still bent on attacking. Pigella leaps in, using her tambourine to show them all what they want most—and it's not unlike Rena Rouge's illusion. She shows them all loving families, lots of belly skritches and walkies, and no fear of ever going hungry or unloved again. And while this does sedate all the nearby dogs from the pound, they all still have no idea whatsoever about where the akumatized item actually is.

The Eastern Order fans out to look for something that might be akumatized. Unfortunately, the dogs that had scattered before double back on Peacock Moth's orders. She sees this as a good time to wipe out some of Ladybug's allies since Ladybug and Cat Noir aren't around to defend them. The four Eastern wielders sigh and go back to fighting the remaining escaped, akumatized dogs. All of them are on their time limits, and they're all painfully aware of the fact.

Meanwhile, Adamantus has pulled his forces back a decent amount; they're meeting up. He doesn't want Ivory to get suspicious about what they just learned, after all. Selkie-shi is impatient. She wants to know why they're poking around a normal residence when they could be attacking Ladybug and Cat Noir directly. Ruddiger has gone silent, his own mind struggling as his consciousness tries to rise against Peacock Moth's control. Gel Girl is off in her own imagination—but she's imagining spending time with Adamantus in a romantic way. Adamantus sighs internally for having to deal with this group. He tells Selkie-shi that they're trying to weaken their enemies before attacking and that today's ploy was successful in that endeavor. That does placate Selkie-shi somewhat, but she also argues that they could use this akuma incident to find Hawk Moth as well. Adamantus knows that that's something they cannot do, but he can't reveal as much as a good part of the birthstone loyalty comes from them not knowing they're serving Paris's number one terrorist. So Adamantus pretends that that's actually a great idea. He sends Gel Girl, Selkie-shi, and Ruddiger in three different directions to "look for signs of Hawk Moth." After all, he has to be close by to akumatize someone, right? Of course, Adamantus sends the three birthstone wielders in the completely wrong direction, away from Peacock Moth as well as the akumatized pound. It's basically a wild goose chase for them, but it works in his favor.

Adamantus himself heads in a fourth direction to play the part. He's still being careful (be careful, again). He doesn't want to stir things up by appearing on someone's live stream. Unfortunately, he's not careful enough. When he's a decent way away from Ivory's apartment, Odette and Pride spot him from their hidden alcove. Odette is about to suggest that they hang back and see if Adamantus leads them to anywhere useful when Pride lunges forward, determined to take Adamantus out then and there. Pride is smart enough not to let out a battle cry as he attacks Adamantus from behind. Unfortunately for him, all he winds up doing is jarring his rapier in his hands as Adamantus still has sky-high defense. Pride is momentarily stunned, and Adamantus turns around with his screwdrivers drawn to fight.

Back at the warehouse/garage/storage unit, Ladybug and Cat Noir are recovering from the Lucky Charm bomb blast. They survived with only bruises due to their suits. Marinette and Adrien didn't make it. However, due to being doppelgangers brought on by the Duality of the Gemini, it meant that Marinette and Adrien were merged back into Ladybug and Cat Noir, making them whole again. Of course, neither realizes this as they had no idea they were split with Duality in the first place. Even Cat Noir, who had experienced it before hasn't put two and two together.

Ladybug is the first to snap to, and she panics completely when she can't see Adrien. She frantically calls out his name as she begins digging through the debris in order to find him. Cat Noir shakes his head to clear it and then watches a moment, realizing how frantic Ladybug is about…himself. He tries to talk to her to comfort her; she doesn't need to panic. But he's so used to keeping his identity a secret that he can't say the true reason why he's so certain Adrien is okay. Ladybug, however, does realize that if Cat Noir is in front of her, then Adrien is all right. Unless, of course, Cat Noir is the impostor and Adrien was the real one all along. She panics again and keeps digging under the guise of "we have to help to civilians." Cat Noir also realizes that this means Marinette Dupain-Cheng too. He looks at Ladybug for a long moment. Is she Marinette? Is she the girl I love? He wants it to be true so badly he feels as if his heart would burst. But in the event he's made a terrible mistake…he can't let injured Marinette go unfound. He also starts searching the debris, calling Marinette's name. And hearing Marinette's name out of Cat Noir/Adrien's mouth is enough to give Ladybug pause. She loves it so much when he says her real name. And then, she realizes, he's saying "Marinette" as if he loves her. She doesn't want to get her hopes up, but…

They search the whole area but find no sign of human civilians. Cat Noir places something in Ladybug's hand—it's a shard of her Lucky Charm bomb that survived. He tells her he's certain that Adrien escaped, unharmed. She doesn't have to worry. Of course, he's also still trying to sort out the memories he has of both his light side and dark side… Ladybug closes her fingers on the Lucky Charm shard as she looks Cat Noir deep in the eyes. This whole chaos and confusion happened because of the secret I have kept for far too long. She's about to speak up when Cat Noir talks first. "Milady, there's something I need to tell you." Ladybug interrupts, say that she's the one who needs to tell him something. The dramatic and romantic tension builds up…

Until a rumbling from nearby interrupts their conversation as the fight between their allies and Peacock Moth's dogs spills nearby. Cat Noir places a hand over Ladybug and says he'll explain everything tonight, at the Pont Alexendre III. Ladybug agrees. They then hurry out to help Carapace and allies—only Cat Noir has his special ability left.

Meanwhile, Adamantus and Pride are fighting, and both prove to be highly skilled. It's practically a stalemate, as Adamantus and Pride as Nicholas and Felix are both trained fighters. Peacock Moth contacts him remotely as she can sense everything is not okay. Adamantus admits he's facing Pride, but he sees it as an opportunity to make the Western Order believe that Team Hawk Moth knows less than it does. Peacock Moth is not happy with her nephew, her son, putting himself in danger, but he insists. And that's when Odette lands beside Pride, determined to tip the scales and fulfill her family's debt to the Western Order by taking down their enemy. Pride gets a bit sarcastic with his own mother, saying that he can handle things. However, Odette won't back down and serves to back up the Leo wielder. Adamantus, however, is on his own thanks to sending his own allies off on a wild goose chase.

The fight with the Eastern wielders and the akumatized dogs continues. Ladybug and Cat Noir drop in, apologizing for taking so long dealing with other things. Pigella and the others are just happy to see them safe and well as there was some concern that they had been captured. Cat Noir asks for a report, and Carapace fills him in that they've subdued half the dogs but they have no idea where the akumatized item is. He wonders if Ladybug can use her Lucky Charm to locate it, but Ladybug gestures to her already beeping earrings. Rena Rouge wonders how Hawk Moth was able to akumatize so many dogs at once; he's never done this before. The last time something similar happened was Heroes' Day, and all of those akuma victims were red. Ladybug admits that Rena Rouge has a good point. Pigella wonders where so many dogs came from in the first place. Obviously, they're not from one private owner. Could they be strays? Or from a pet store? That's when Ladybug has her eureka moment—she thanks Rena Rouge and Pigella for their insight, and she says she realizes that the akuma has to be where all these dogs originally came from. She asks Pigella to use her tambourine/cell phone to search for the addresses of nearby pounds. Pigella agrees while the rest hold off the akumatized canines to give her the time she needs.

Within a minute, Pigella has two addresses. Ladybug and Cat Noir split up with the girls following Ladybug and the guys following Cat Noir and the remaining dogs chasing them both. It's Cat Noir's team that finds the rather ominous looking pound that is akumatizing all animals inside. He uses his Cataclysm to destroy it, releasing the butterfly within. Ladybug circles around to capture and purify it. "Pound It!" happens twice, one with the girl team and once with the guy team. Ladybug then uses the shard of the bomb fragment for her world-healing wave, undoing the damaged pound and warehouse and everywhere in between. Peacock Moth sees this as a sign to order her forces to withdraw, and they begrudgingly do so.

All except Adamantus, who can't withdraw as he's still fighting Odette and Pride. When the world-healing wave kicks off, Pride uses his own special ability—Invulnerability. He boasts about his defense and offense, stating that not even diamond can stop him now. While Adamantus realizes that if he beats his opponents, he walks away with two miraculous, he doesn't really want to continue this fight as Peacock Moth ordered him to withdraw. He also has something else he wants to do, and he's currently at a massive disadvantage, so victory is slim. He knows he can't risk pushing things too hard because, in the chance that he loses, Pride and Odette will discover his identity which would lead them right back to Nathalie.

Adamantus decides to test something. He recalls how Nathalie said his own special ability was actually "undo." So he gets within arms' reach of Pride and attempts to "undo" Pride's special ability. It doesn't work. Adamantus has already specialized a generic "undo" in a specific healing ability. Pride has no idea what the heck Adamantus is trying and calls him out for it.

Seeing no further reason to stay, Adamantus fakes both of them out by seeming to attack Odette. This catches them off guard and actually causes Pride to mildly panic as that's his mother who is about to be attacked. He puts himself between Adamantus and Odette to shield her since his body is currently Invulnerable. Adamantus lobs one then the other of his screwdrivers, and Pride deflects them but is forced to avert his eyes. Adamantus continues his sprint, racing past them, and fleeing, abandoning his weapons. By the time the two members of the Western Order have recovered, Adamantus is several rooftops away and vanishing quickly.

Pride, however, sees this as blow to his ego and isn't about the let Adamantus escape. He pursues while Odette lingers behind, picking up the screwdrivers to study them. Seeing he has a tail, Adamantus drops to street level behind a restaurant. He transforms back into Nicholas and blends in with the crowds, acting like a normal civilian. By the time Pride catches up, he has no idea who to continue to pursuing. He swears under his breath. Adamantus turning back into Nicholas also serves to cause the screwdrivers to vanish from Odette's hand, leaving her no clues to go on.

Odette uses one of her feathers to report back to Ivory; she specifically mentions the location they found Adamantus. By sheer coincidence, this is not far from one of Ivory's secondary safe houses. She breathes a sigh of relief. She now believes that only her secondary safe house has been compromised and that this whole akuma incident was a decoy for Hawk Moth to affirm his suspicions of that location. As far as she believes, the Theroux apartment with Master Fu and Hypnos is safe.

Nadja Chamack wraps up her news broadcast, mentioning which pound was attacked and praising Ladybug and Cat Noir and allies' heroics for saving all the dogs. This includes multiple shots of the dogs, all happy and back to normal. This results in many of the dogs finding permanent homes.

Evening drifts onward, and Ladybug and Cat Noir meet up at the Pont Alexendre III (they do know they need to be careful because Angelica becomes dangerous after nightfall). At first they don't talk, just watching the lights light up together. Then at the same time, they go to speak. "I have something important to say. No, you first." Ladybug ultimately goes first. She starts with "the events of today made me realize that keeping secrets between us isn't safe. There's something you need to know, something I need to tell you…I've been keeping it inside for so long." But then, when she actually goes to explain her big secret, she gets ridiculously tongue tied and can't string a coherent sentence together. Cat Noir patiently listens as a smile spreads across his face. He can finally, truly see it now. How many times has he missed it? She was right in front of him, all along, from her determined attitude to her endearing stammering. And as Ladybug notices his smile spreading, she falls silent.

"You're Marinette, right?" Cat Noir asks.

Ladybug pauses four beats. This is what she needs to tell him…it's what she's fought so hard to keep secret. This is the turning point. There's still time to lie, to take it back. But if she tells him the truth now, there'll be no turning back. Ladybug steels her nerves and makes her choice.

She looks Cat Noir in the eyes and nods, a blush crawling up her cheeks. She can't maintain eye contact for too long and has to look away.

Cat Noir breaks into the largest grin yet and moves to hug her. He explains how ridiculously happy he is at this moment, but Ladybug puts two fingers on his lips to cut him off.

She tells him that she still has more to say. She apologizes for keeping this from him for so long. She didn't mean to, but there never seemed to be a good time to bring things up. She reverts to babbles again and has to take a huge deep breath in order to power through it, which takes significant effort on her part. But even then, her longer speech fails due to her tongue getting tied. So finally, she places her hands on Cat Noir's cheeks so that their faces are close as she manages to say, "I've known for a long time that you're the boy I love, Adrien Agreste." Her heart accelerates so fast when she finally confesses that that she nearly leaps away; she actually would have escaped if he hadn't taken one of her hands in his.

"I knew it. I knew it was you—you Marinette, you Ladybug—who saved me in the stadium. It doesn't matter if you wear a mask or not. I love you."

Ladybug squirms from his confession as her feelings are so intense. Cat Noir finds it endearing as he's seeing the real person in Ladybug. And she loves me. She begs him a moment to compose herself, so Cat Noir releases her hand and she takes two steps back as she tries to calm down.

This gives Cat Noir a chance to think, and he wonders aloud, "Why would you fall for Adrien first? He's…he's fake. Cat Noir has always been the real me. Adrien is…Adrien is…" His voice falls as he confesses. "Adrien is the mask I wear when I don't want to disappoint my father. I…I don't think he is genuine enough to deserve your love."

Ladybug can see how much it pains Cat Noir to confess his feelings about his father and himself. She hesitates, then she pulls an umbrella out of her pursue (it's obvious the umbrella is too big for her red and black spotted purse, but it is magic). She hands it to him, and he recognizes it. It's the same umbrella he loaned her during their meeting in Stoneheart. "You kept this all this time?"

Ladybug nods. "I fell in love with the kind boy who gave that to me. Was that you? Or was that Adrien?"

Cat Noir is left a bit speechless. It was just "him" who gave her the umbrella as it was the right thing to do. He wasn't thinking about impressing his father or not disappointing anyone. He just wanted to help a friend. In that moment, he wasn't Adrien or Cat Noir. He was just himself. His fingers curl around the umbrella and he thanks Ladybug for allowing him this revelation. Ladybug doesn't say anything, she just takes her hand in his.

For a long while, they just enjoy being together. But Ladybug brings up the fact that they do have things still to deal with. How were "Marinette" and "Adrien" impersonated today? She's worried their identities got compromised. Cat Noir realizes that this is a very real concern, but how can they learn the truth? If they are compromised, they can't continue to serve the greater good…

They put their heads together, and Cat Noir eventually gets the idea to ask Bunnyx. She knows what's going on in the present and future. If any ally knows if an enemy is onto them, it'd be her. Ladybug points out that Bunnyx will always keep the future a secret in order to protect it. Cat Noir argues that she's still their best bet. After all, she knows who they are too. She's the only one they can trust with this. Ladybug eventually agrees, and they send a text through Discord to Bunnyx.

Alix gets it, ponders a moment, considering what she saw in the Burrow, and replies back. "I can't tell you the future. You know that. Every choice I make, from the moment you entrusted me with the rabbit miraculous, is made to bring about the best possible future. So I can't tell you if this is true or not—I'm only saying this so that you'll act in a way that benefits the future—but that road still might be paved with suffering.

"Your identities have not been compromised."

Both read this and breathe a huge sigh of relief. Granted, they're not 100% certain that an enemy doesn't know who they are. And if that's the case, they might wind up in an even worse situation than the end of Phase Two. But it does mean that they're still on track for a golden ending. And it does mean that they can continue to be Ladybug and Cat Noir.

Cat Noir tells Ladybug how relieved he is as he was concerned that if they knew each other's identities, she would stop being Ladybug—and he would never, ever want her to feel that she had to hand over her miraculous for his sake. Ladybug laughs a little and says it's the same.

That causes Cat Noir to remember the events at the end of Phase Two. Cat Noir wants to know…how did Ladybug escape Hawk Moth? Did she give up her miraculous for his sake? Ladybug admits she did—she explains everything that happened on her end and how terrified she was when she found him unconscious. They compare stories though both are baffled at how their miraculous returned after they fell into Hawk Moth's hands. This leads to them discussing all of their adventures together with no secrets in between them. They also discuss how they have to act as Ladybug/Cat Noir going forward (they decide to pretend to be the same as before with Cat Noir being flirty and Ladybug refusing him in order to protect their civilian relationship). They discuss how they're going to be together as Adrien and Marinette. Cat Noir says he'd love it to always be by her side, fighting crime, while Ladybug surprises him by saying she'd rather that they have the chance to just be a normal boy and girl in love. They talk late into the night under the bridge until neither can stay out any longer without their families getting suspicious. They part ways, and Ladybug surprises Cat Noir by giving him a kiss on the cheek. Cat Noir is on cloud nine as he heads home, and Ladybug tells him as she leaves that she genuinely wishes the best for him and his family and that she's always been hoping for his parents' recovery. Cat Noir thanks her. The memory of his parents' state brings him a bit back to Earth, but it still can't ruin the joy of the evening.

Speaking of Gabriel and Emilie… Back at the Agreste manor, Dr. Gerald Theroux has taken his evening break from watching over the comatose. While he is on call 24/7 and spends a lot of time in their room, he does have breaks in which he can leave the manor and see his family and take care of his own life. It's one such break that Nicholas Sancoeur was waiting for. He waits until Dr. Theroux is gone and everyone else in the manor is in different wings. He then approaches the bedside of the sleeping couple. He knows his aunt's greatest wish is to revive the man she loves—and she would do so even if it destroys herself. But now…now, as Adamantus, he can undo injuries. And if his plan succeeds, Nathalie won't have to sacrifice herself for Gabriel. Nicholas once again makes sure he's alone, then he transforms into Adamantus. For the first time ever, he declares his special ability: "Purify!"

Midnight strikes, and there are still miraculous wielders on the prowl. Queen Scorpion is holding another meeting for those concerned or dissatisfied with how Ivory is running the Western Order and how she is treating them like pawns. Reef and June are again present as they are uncertain if they believe Scorpion's account but they're also unwilling to let Ivory's Oblivion go unchecked. That's when Zephyria the Witch joins them, at June's request. They hide the fact that they're best friends IRL who now know each other's identities. And Zephyria doesn't show up alone, she brings her boyfriend, Ramson, with her. They make no commitments, but they want to hear Scorpion's side of the story in order to have more facts to make their own choices. The assembly of the dissidents of the Western Order has begun.

To be continued in Chapter 95: Peacock Moth…